(BCTV) - Part 1

For the past two months, B.C. has been embroiled in the controversy over those three boatloads of illegal migrants that were intercepted off the coast. We've heard the calls for tougher laws and complaints that Canada is seen around the world as a "soft touch" when it comes to illegal immigration. But while the effect of human smuggling on B.C. is profound, the fact is, for most of these would-be migrants, this province is just a stop-over. And as we continue our News Hour investigation into their escape from Fujian, Ted Chernecki reports this week from the metropolis that for many is journey's end: New York City.

Ted Chernecki, reporting: "New York City, still a beacon of hope for thousands of immigrants, many of them coming from British Columbia. Almost in the shadow of the World Trade Centre, there is another trade going on...one of the most infamous kind. Chinese migrants from British Columbia are being bought and sold as slaves in the slave trade of the new millennium."

Peter Kwong, U.S. Asian Studies professor: "Here in New York City, you have a huge market for cheap labour, for vulnerable cheap labour."

Ted Chernecki, reporting: "From high above Manhattan's upper east side, Professor Peter Kwong, an expert on Asia American studies. He's written books and produced documentaries about the Fujian migrants."

Peter Kwong, U.S. Asian Studies professor: "Most illegals coming from Fujian in the last ten, fifteen years, have been coming to New York."

Ted Chernecki, reporting: "And how. This is Chinatown, in the heart of New York City. It's one of three large Chinese districts within a six kilometer radius around Manhattan. Population here: unknown. That's because there are so many illegals. However, it is estimated that the number of Chinese migrants from Fujian province has now reached a half a million. Behind me is old Chinatown in New York City...been there for years. Everything this way is what locals call "Communist Chinatown". Virtually every resident living there is from Fujian province. It is the fastest growing sector of Chinatown and many of the arrivals are coming from Canada...And there is a favourite point of entry.

Five-hundred kilometers north of New York City, an RCMP boat patrols the St. Lawrence River. On the left of your screen, Canada. On the right, the Awkwassasnee Indian Reserve and a gateway to the United States. A long suspension bridge connects to the two countries...but it's here down below where police patrol eight months of the year looking for smugglers."

Cpl. Gilles Tougat, Cornwall RCMP: "Back in the early 90's, the main commodity was mainly cigarettes and liquor. Now, we've seen that there's more and more an emphasis on the smuggling of aliens. They look at it as a commodity obviously."

Ted Chernecki, reporting: "Mohawk Indian land straddles Ontario, Quebec and New York state...geography ideal for smuggling and a problem for police."

Cpl. Gilles Tougat, Cornwall RCMP: "It is quite hard for us to control the whole lake at the same time. We are trying to do the best we can but this is quite a vast area to cover with two boats."

Ted Chernecki, reporting: "A few kilometers to the south, a wing of the U.S. Immigration Service on border patrol. They are here on Interstate 89...the main highway leading to New York City."

Ben Deluca, US border patrol: "What we do periodically is we set up a border patrol checkpoint operation. Then we stop all southbound traffic coming from and around the border area. There's an awful lot of Asian smuggling going on through the Akwasasne Indian Reservation coming from Toronto, or even Vancouver originally, crossing through the indian reservation and heading to New York City."

Ted Chernecki, reporting: "Late last year, U.S. Immigration, with the help of Canadian and tribal police, arrested 35 alleged smugglers - almost half of them from Canada. Police say these people were responsible for bringing three-thousand six-hundred illegal migrants into the states and they stood to make 170-million dollars. But many migrants slip through the net and head down the road to New York. Tomorrow on the News Hour, life in New York City ?one of unbelievable living conditions and virtual slavery in any one of the city's many sweatshops."